Rayleigh-Taylor Instability in the Presence of a Stratified Shear Layer.

Abstract

A nonlocal theory of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability which includes the effect of a transverse velocity shear is presented. A two fluid model is used to describe an inhomogeneous plasma under the influence of gravity and sheared equilibrium flow velocity, and to derive a differential equation describing the generalized Rayleigh-Taylor instability. An extensive parametric study is made in the collisionless and collisional regime, and the corresponding dispersion curves are presented. The results are applied to the equatorial F region and to barium releases in the ionosphere. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 16, 1984
Accession Number
ADA138544

Entities

People

  • Joseph D. Huba
  • P. N. Guzdar
  • P. Satyanarayana
  • Sidney L. Ossakow

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Differential Equations
  • Electric Fields
  • Equations
  • Fluids
  • Frequency
  • Geological Phenomena
  • Long Wavelengths
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Military Research
  • New York
  • Physics
  • Plasmas (Physics)
  • Rayleigh Taylor Instability
  • Short Wavelengths
  • Turbulent Mixing
  • Wave Functions

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics